Back in second grade, you had a pen pal from New Orleans, but she disappeared when Hurricane Katrina hit, and you haven’t heard from her since. Now you’re in 7th grade, and there’s a new girl in school who some thing is a zombie, but who you think reminds you of your old pen pal.
You see her going into a cemetery. Do you follow?
“Choose Your Own Adventure” is as fun as always, with this spooky new book written for elementary or middle school readers. The premise is great, the writing style is quite good, and there even manages to be a bit of character in there. (Unusual for this type of book, but it actually made me feel more connected to the “you” who was supposed to be me.)
My only complaint is that I felt the endings were weak. I don’t want to spoil them, but in a few cases I just didn’t feel like it was truly over, and in a few other cases I was just hoping for a bit more. Nothing truly bad seems to happen, which may be because of the targeted age range, but I did feel that the journeys were spooky enough to warrant more consequential endings.
I do recommend this to Choose Your Own Adventure Enthusiasts, especially if you’re into spooky stories or zombies.
Rating: 4/5
Title: Zombie Pen Pal
Author: Ken McMurtry
ISBN: 1933390344
Published May 1, 2010